Worship Pastor / Composer Travis L. Boyd and his wife, Cynthia, provide inspiration and resources for the worship community and all believers through sharing the blessings of worship, faith, family, ministry, music, love, & life. We also share information about Worship Sounds Music, which can be found on our Worship Sounds website at worshipsounds.com ~ Downloadable Choral Anthems * Solos * Orchestrations * Worship Songs * Accompaniment Trax

Posts tagged ‘ministry’

I have always loved music, and I love to sing; but the reasons that I love to sing in my church choir are are so much deeper than that. Here are the top ten reasons why I love to sing in the choir at my church:

MY TOP TEN REASONS
FOR JOYFULLY SINGING IN THE CHURCH CHOIR

1. Singing in my church choir gives me an opportunity to express my love for the Lord.

I am so thankful for God’s love and mercy and for the sacrificial life and death of Jesus and the victory of His resurrection. How else could I express the profound spiritual understanding of the goodness of God that goes beyond words and is only revealed in my heart through the work of God’s Holy Spirit? Someimes, within the congregation, it is only through musical praise that I feel I have done all that I can do, with God’s help, to share the message of God’s salvation and His incredible love for me and for all of mankind.

“O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name; make known His deeds among the people. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him; talk of all His wondrous works. Glory in His holy name; let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice.” Psalm 105:1 – 3

2. Singing in my church choir is more than a hobby or an activity. It is a calling.

What an incredible privilege it is to know that God has allowed me to have the ability to participate in something that brings Him glory as those who love the Lord assemble together for worship! He has made each of us with particular gifts and talents. I believe that the calling to minister through these gifts is what gives faithful choir members the passion to continue their service and to strive for excellence in expressing their praise to the Lord.

There is a lot of * JOY * in fulfilling your calling and in giving praise to the Lord, who has given us everything we’ve ever had and all that we ever will have!

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody! Awake, my soul! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn! I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples, I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your steadfast love is great above the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let Your glory be over all the earth.” Psalm 108:1 – 5

Lift up His name!

3. Singing in my church choir allows for a type of expression of praise to the Lord that could not be accomplished in any other way.

Although I love all kinds of music and all kinds of arrangements, there are some songs, some lyrics, and some messages that just would not have the same intensity of expression if they were shared in any other way than through choral singing. The Hallelujah Chorus is one such example. Can you imagine it as a solo? It just would not have the same impact. There is something about voices joined together as a choir to share a message for God’s glory that is just a very unique means of expression. Although Tom Fettke’s “The Majesty and Glory of Your Name” or Heather Sorenson’s “God of Heaven” would still have a beautiful melody when sung as a solo, the impact would not be as great as if a choir were singing these worshipful anthems and joining their hearts and souls to bring glory to God in a soaring or contemplative or victorious or joyous choral arrangement.

“Let them thank the Lord for His steadfast love, for His wonderful works to the sons of men! And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of His deeds in songs of joy!” Psalm 107:21 & 22

4. Singing in my church choir allows me to participate in the overall ministry of leading in worship, which is a joy and a privilege.

As long as I have a voice, I want to use it to praise God. I don’t want to miss an opportunity to use my voice and even the expression on my face to proclaim God’s goodness through all of the musical praise during congregational worship. I realize that the choir is not just there to sing an anthem or to perform. We are there to worship and to lead in worship. Whether we are singing a new song or an old song, a hymn, a worship song, a choral anthem, or a musical benediction, it is a joy to share these messages of hope and faith with the people of God and to gather in God’s name for the purpose of bringing Him glory.

“Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! Let them exalt Him also in the congregation of the people, and praise Him in the assembly of the elders.” Psalm 107:31 & 32

5. Singing in my church choir and in other Christian choirs has given me many opportunities to share the good news of Jesus Christ in many settings, throughout my home country and in other countries as well.

Whether a choir is singing in an outdoor setting, a shopping mall, a small church, a prison, a nursing home or assisted living center, a juvenile detention center, a community center, a state capitol building, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D. C., or in a great concert hall in Australia or a public school in Russia, the opportunity to bring glory to God and to share the message of His love and mercy is a blessing and an incredibly humbling miracle of God’s grace! If God had not saved a wretch like me, I would have no message to share anywhere!

“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord is God; it is He that has made us and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise; be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good: His mercy is everlasting, and his truth endures to all generations.” Psalm 100 (all verses, 1 – 5)

Psalm 107:8

6. Singing in my church choir and in other Christian choirs has implanted incredibly profound messages within my heart and soul through the lyrics of the songs that I have been able to sing.

I have been incredibly blessed to invest time in learning these wonderful words and then have had the blessing of remembering them so often as the Lord uses them to speak to my heart over and over again. Often, the words of sacred choral anthems are either entirely scripture, based upon scripture, are paraphrases of scripture, or contain some scriptural content. Singing them helps me to learn and to remember scripture passages and spiritual truths. As a choir member, I am not just singing these songs once a week on Sunday morning. Because of the work aspect that goes into preparation for sharing these messages in worship, we really live with these incredible words, and they have a deep impact in our lives. What a joy it is to sing these messages, live these truths, and share these words of truth and hope, faith and love, blessing and victory, challenge and mercy, and ministry and grace!

“O sing unto the Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, bless His name; show forth His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the heathen, His wonders among all people. For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised.” Psalm 96:1 – 4a

7. Singing in my church choir and in other Christian choirs has allowed me to get to know so many wonderful people who love the Lord and have a heart of service.

A choir becomes a family as we serve together and care for one another. We pray for one another. We love each other and share God’s love with each other. There is an incredible bond when you have worshiped and cried and smiled and laughed and worked and learned and prayed together. I can sing a wrong note or sing in the wrong place, and my choir family just considers such things to be part of the process of learning the music and growing in faith and in musical expression together. I have never heard anyone groan or complain about singing the same portion of a song over and over in order to get it right. We embrace our humanity as we strive to sing beyond our own abilities in order to bring God glory.

8. Singing in my church choir allows me to participate in something that is so much bigger than my self.

The spiritual and emotional and mental messages that flow out of the marriage of music and lyrics in each song become so much more meaningful as I sing with my brothers and sisters in Christ. I know something of their stories and their lives. I know when someone is singing about God’s healing for broken hearts with deep emotion that flows from their own fountain of personal pain. I know when someone is singing of the joy of the Lord even when they have just experienced a personal loss. I know when the message of Christ’s victory over death has very personal meaning to one of my dear sisters or brothers. I know when the hearts of all of us are touched with God’s mercy and when the joy is so real that I am amazed that it is not visible in the air around us. So, not only is the sound and the arrangement something that I could never accomplish on my own. The collective testimony of this group and the way that God is ministering to our individual hearts as we sing (and to us and through us as a choir) create an impact through the very real and heartfelt sharing of musical testimony that extends far beyond myself or any one individual.

“O come, let us sing unto the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the strength of the hills is His also. The sea is His, and He made it; and His hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.” Psalm 95:1 – 7a

9. I believe that singing praise to God is the closest thing to Heaven that I can experience on this earth.

What could be better than the times when I have the blessing of joining my own voice and heart with the voices and hearts of a group of people whose desire is to praise God, encourage God’s people, share the story of who God is and what He has done, tell the good news of Jesus, and bring blessing and honor and glory to God? The Bible speaks of the singers and the musicians and of choirs. The scriptures talk about the voice of God and how He rejoices over us with singing. There is something special about the way that God created us to use music as a form of expression that goes far beyond words. If is much more that the music itself. It is about how God Himself speaks through the music and then allows us to speak to Him and about Him through the music.

“And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, ‘Great and wonderful are Thy deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are Thy ways, O King of the ages! Who shall not fear and glorify Thy name, O Lord? For Thou alone art Holy. All nations shall come and worship Thee, for Thy judgements have been revealed.” Revelation 15:3 & 4

10. I love to sing in my church choir and in other Christian choirs because of the incredible songs that God has inspired men and women to write, which then become part of my own spiritual journey.

I believe that before a spiritual song can touch the hearts of people, God must first touch the heart of the song-writer (composer) of the song. I believe (and know!) that every song begins with a revelation of truth from God or a new way of looking at or expressing a truth already known. It is like experiencing my own spiritual journey as I try, then make mistakes, and then try again in rehearsal, while simultaneously experiencing the revelations that flow from the spiritual journeys of others. I have learned so much, and my own journey has been blessed beyond words by the profound spiritual truth that I have learned through the songs I’ve been priveleged to sing with my brothers and sisters in Christ. To me, a choir rehearsal is not just working on music. It is a time of worship. I have wept as my heart has been moved by the message of a song. I have reached out to grab the hand of a friend. I have felt my heart swell until I thought I might burst. I have experienced joy so great that I was amazed to find my feet still on the floor. My soul has been convicted and stirred. My heart has been broken and mended and strengthened and challenged. My faith has grown. I have walked through deep valleys and enjoyed the view from some mountaintops… all while praising the Lord through the songs that he has inspired men and women to write and then to arrange for choir, for the blending and unity of hearts and minds and souls as we learn and grow and rejoice together in this lovely, human expression of the eternal and divine that we call choir.

“The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. Then Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song to the Lord began also, and the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David king of Israel. The whole assembly worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. When the burnt offering was finished, the king and all who were present with him bowed themselves and worshipped. And Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshipped.” II Chronicles 29:26 – 30

What a blessing a joy it has been to sing in church choirs and in other choirs made up of my brothers and sisters in Christ! I will continue to praise the Lord through choral music for as long as I have the opportunity. I am so thankful to God for my salvation and for His presence in my life. I cannot help but sing.

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This post was written by Cynthia A. Boyd, with thanksgiving to God for giving me something of eternal meaning and worth to sing about, and with love and appreciation for my favorite Choral Director, Travis L. Boyd, for giving me a love song in this life.

I am also thankful for all of the wonderful choral and band directors and voice and piano teachers who have taught me so much about music and then about singing and playing music for more than the here and now. They include: Dr. Jon Duncan, Dr. Bill Green, Dr. Terry Segress, Eugene Beck, Steve Westmoreland, Dr. Charles Jurrens, Mrs. Betty Westomoreland, Dr. Robert Reynolds, Faye Casey, John Robinson, Steve Smith, John Casey, Dr. Charles Chapman, Dr. Merle Taff, Lillian Loe-Stoddard, Eugene Butler, Dr. Irving Bunton, Lloyd Pfautsch, Wynn Anne Hook, Ron Stanton, Eph Ely, and John Gerber, who was directing the invitation hymn when I laid down my music and left the choir loft to say “yes” to Jesus.

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1. Contain the statement previously mentioned.
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We will stand by our words and prefer to have the opportunity to answer any inquiries about the content of the article ourselves. Let us hear from you! We would love to hear about how the Lord has used the message of this article to encourage and inspire your choir, worship team, or congregation. If you can do a follow-up comment after sharing it, that would be a real blessing to us. Thank you so much for your interest in spreading the word about the very vital and incredible experince of being a part of a worshipping choir and worship ministry in general. It is an indescribable blessing.

…And we all thank You, Lord, for allowing us to have a part in leading others to worship You!!”

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Here are two of my favorite choral anthems, written by my husband, Worship Minister and Composer Travis L. Boyd.

For more information about this anthem, with purchasing links, click on the title to go to our Sound Cloud page for “Jesus, My Redeemer”. There is also a set of other Publishers’ demos on our Sound Cloud.

For more information about this anthem, with purchasing links, click on the title to go to our Sound Cloud page for “Praise God”. There is also a set of other Publishers’ demos on our Sound Cloud.

Information about additional Choral Anthems, Orchestrations, Vocal Solos, and Congregational worship music by Travis L. Boyd, which can be found on our Worship Sounds Music website, is below.

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Click this image to go to our WorshipSounds website.

Find Worshipful CHORAL MUSIC for your Choir at WORSHIP SOUNDS MUSIC! Worship Sounds music offers downloadable Choral Anthems for Adult Choirs, Senior Adult Choirs, and Student Choirs in several voicings (SATB, SAB, SSATB, 2-Part, SSAA, and TTBB). Many of our anthems also have Full Orchestrations available, and some also have downloadable Mp3 Accompaniment Tracks. In addition, we offer Vocal Solos, with most available in 3 keys, Solo Accompaniment Tracks, and Congregational worship music. You can find all of this at http://www.worshipsounds.com

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Looking for answers for yourself or for a friend? Thank you for spending your valuable time reading the contents of this page. We hope that it has been helpful to you. If you or someone that you know is looking for answers about life, we hope that you will visit our page called “Do You Know Jesus?”. The links provided on this page will help to answer life’s deepest questions. Here is the link to “Do You Know Jesus?”: http://www.worshipsounds.wordpress.com/do-you-know-jesus/ Please feel free to share this URL with anyone who is looking for answers about life and eternity.

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Worship Sounds Music Blog Blessings of Faith. Songs of Worship, Life of Joy!

What gets your attention? Sometimes events or messages from others that take us by surprise can be heavenly wake-up calls. After we recover from the shock of finding out that things were not as we thought them to be, such a wake up call can be a very good thing. We are forced to re-evaluate and to move forward with a truer perspective, often requiring positive change or increased diligence on our part.

All of us have ‘blind spots’ in our lives. Often, these are areas of endeavor that seem to be going well. We’ve been working and striving, thinking that we are doing our best. Then, along comes something that rocks our world. It could be something that we observe, something that someone says or does, a scripture that speaks to our hearts, or just a stunning realization that there is much more to be done. While we’ve always known that there is more, perhaps we may not have realized how much more. Or, perhaps we’ve thought that we are making good progress. A new level of awareness can be a shocking wake-up call. Whether the area of concern is relationships, parenting and preparing our children for life beyond home, something related to work, an area where self-improvement is needed, or an area of spiritual discipleship or discipline that is not where it should be, we must suddenly re-evaluate and re-prioritize in order to address this need which has come to our attention. It’s a ‘front and center’ moment of time when we realize that we must step up to a new level of effort, of competence, or of intentional focus. While being confronted with addressing the need at a new tier of possibilities and priorities may at first seem dauntingly impossible, unfair, or even hurtful, it’s actually a very good thing to have an aha! moment. It is these times of keen awareness that help us move forward from the place we thought we had reached to a higher mountaintop beyond our range of vision. Sometimes we can’t see the end (or the top), and we don’t know how to get there. The alternative is to stay where we are, put our blinders back on, and bumble forward in the hope that somehow everything will be alright. We may be very close to the edge of a precipice of mediocrity without realizing the danger. When it comes to fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives, the precipice of mediocrity is not somewhere that He is willing to let us stay.

What to do then?

It’s time for some fresh perspective. It’s time for us to take a new look at every area of life, but this time we’ll need some help with our blind spots. First, we must we willing to lay down our blinders. We must let go of our ideas about where we are and where we need to be in our walk with the Lord and in every area of life. The wake-up call that we received, in whatever form it came, was a blessing in disguise. It allows us to have a new beginning. In order to move forward with the Lord in any changes that we need to make, we first need to spend time in prayer and wait on the Lord to reveal His direction in every area. He will guide us if we trust Him to take us from right where we are and move us to where we need to be. Often, our way forward is one day at a time, one step at a time, one moment at a time. We are not paralyzed as we move forward. We are taking steps of faith with great hope because we trust that God will cause all things to work together for good. (Romans 8:28) We must move forward in doing what we know to do. If there have been areas of complacency in our lives, our work, or our calling to serve the Lord, we know that we must move toward re-connecting with God’s heart of compassion, His purpose, and His urgent call to our hearts, “Redeem the time!”

In Music and Worship ministry, as in any area of life, our positions of leadership carry great responsibility. We must stop making excuses and begin again to use all of the resources that we have been given to passionately declare the love and mercy of our God. Most of our brothers and sisters in the congregation will only awake to their own passion for following the Lord when they see that passion in their leadership and recognize that the time is short, the laborers are few, and the need is great! What kind of impact can we make in our world? We have so much more to work with that the small band of disciples that watched Jesus ascend to Heaven after they had been given their “marching orders.” (Matthew 28:18 – 20) Perhaps we have some problems with our technical equipment, some personnel shortages, inadequacies with our buildings, tight budgets, scheduling issues, and attitudes to overcome. We’ll never do the work of the Kingdom as long as we allow these issues to get the better of our enthusisam or to zap our zeal for the Lord and for serving Him. (Just say ‘no’ to zeal zappers!) So, we must get busy with the resources we’ve been given! We’ve had our wake-up call. God has gotten our attention, but He wants more. He wants our hearts, our minds, our souls, and our strength! We can’t just watch a downhill slide anymore! It’s time to start pushing back the tide, pushing forward, and doing what we are called to do. He will meet us where we are and be there each step of the way!

Dear Lord, in every area of my life, You have a plan. I praise You, O Lord. Your steadfast love endures forever! Your wisdom is unsearchable. Your goodness is absolute. Your mercies are new every morning! You are the God of restoration and redemption. Lord, take my life, my feeble efforts, my pre-conceptions, and my responsibilities. Take it all. Make it Yours. Help me to continue to lay it all down everyday, knowing that only You can carry Your purpose forward in my life. Where I have messed up, help me make it right. Where I have fallen short, show me how to make up the difference with Your help. Where my vision has failed, give me Yours. Where my hopes have died, restore them. Where hurts have crippled or confused me, shine Your healing light. Touch my heart with your compassion and mercy. Help me to see every person through Your eyes. Restore the joy of my salvation and the zeal of fresh commitment. Give me a heart that thirsts for You. Remove the sickness of complacency from my life. Make me new, Lord. I love you. In the name of my precious Savior, Jesus,….Amen.

For more perspective and inspiration on living a life of intentionally seeking to bring God glory in every moment, see our post entitled “Lifestyle Worship.” Blessings to you as you move forward in your walk with the Lord and seek His purpose in every area of life!

The decision to ask Jesus to come into your heart and life as your Lord and Savior is the best decision you could ever make! The one true God is ready to give you forgiveness and eternal life as soon as you understand your need for Him and believe on the name of His only Son, Jesus, for your salvation. Here’s a blog page link to help you find the answers to your questions about Jesus. http://www.worshipsounds.wordpress.com/do-you-know-jesus/

Worship Sounds Music Blog Blessings of Faith. Songs of Worship, Life of Joy!